General SportbikesThis area is for sport bike discussion in general. Topics that don't really belong anywhere else can go here. Questions can be answered and addressed to fully understand certain aspects of the sport. If your question is manufacturer specific please post it there.
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You can do quality gear on the cheap. I used one jacket year round, a Joe Rocket I got on clearance for about $150. It has a ton of vents for summer use, the when it gets chilly close the vents and put the liner in, when it gets really cold, I loosen up the adjusters and wear a hoodie underneath it. The jacket is also waterproof but only in light rain, so I bought an oversized rain coat and just throw that on over the jacket in heavy rain.

I also got Frank Thomas winter pants with armor, removable liner, and they're waterproof, throw on some thermals underneath and good to go, clearance purchase for $100.

The place you're gonna want to spend real money is your hands, buy high quality gloves, crappy ones just suck to wear and are uncomfortable. I love Helds, and they're not that expensive compared to similar quality Alpinstars or Dainese.

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I always err on the side of awesome.
Touring on Inappropriate Equipment since 2008
58 Forever...

You can do quality gear on the cheap. I used one jacket year round, a Joe Rocket I got on clearance for about $150. It has a ton of vents for summer use, the when it gets chilly close the vents and put the liner in, when it gets really cold, I loosen up the adjusters and wear a hoodie underneath it. The jacket is also waterproof but only in light rain, so I bought an oversized rain coat and just throw that on over the jacket in heavy rain.

I also got Frank Thomas winter pants with armor, removable liner, and they're waterproof, throw on some thermals underneath and good to go, clearance purchase for $100.

The place you're gonna want to spend real money is your hands, buy high quality gloves, crappy ones just suck to wear and are uncomfortable. I love Helds, and they're not that expensive compared to similar quality Alpinstars or Dainese.

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You wouldn't happen to have the name of the specific jacket would you?

When looking at pants, what kind is best? Textile? Mesh? Should I opt for leather?

Also, boots. Weatherproof? Racing? Street/Touring? Which is best for my needs?

EDIT: Found what I was looking for in the new rider section. Think I'm gonna go with the Held Evo Thrux Gloves and the Sidi Cobra boots. The boots are a bit pricey at $260 so I'm gonna look around. As far as pants and jacket, I'll be looking on craigslist for leather/textile jacket and pants. There has to be something on there for cheap.

EDIT #2: Looking at the Joe Rocket Hemp Jacket for $96. Anyone heard anything about it? Good enough? For pants, I think I've decided on the AGV Telluride. They seem to be good all-season riding pants.

I believe mine is a Joe Rocket Meteor 6. I also have the Held Evo Thrux gloves, best gloves I've ever had. You can use them as 3 season gloves, though I also have Held Air Heros I wear when it is really hot out, but the Thrux are not that hot in summer anyway.

I have a little bit of all gear, including leather and textile pants, and jackets. I mostly wear my leather and relegate the textile to cold weather duty, but if I could only have one it would be textile, it's just a lot more versatile with vents, liners, and waterproofing. Later on you can go buy leather stuff which tends to be more expensive.

For boots I usually just wear comfortable leather tactical boots, with jeans. I also use my bike for my primary transportation, and while riding boots offer more protection, regular boots are better for when you get off the bike at your destination. There are also nice looking kevlar jeans out there that are comfortable. I crash tested a pair of Shift jeans this summer and they held up.

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I always err on the side of awesome.
Touring on Inappropriate Equipment since 2008
58 Forever...

Jackets and things are much much cheaper if you can find one being discontinued or an outgoing years model. Just be careful with that on helmets as said before, they sort of expire and an outgoing model or may already be a year old, thats a chunk of its usable life gone.

Jackets and things are much much cheaper if you can find one being discontinued or an outgoing years model. Just be careful with that on helmets as said before, they sort of expire and an outgoing model or may already be a year old, thats a chunk of its usable life gone.

The Black Alpine is perforated so I feel that would be better for those hot days. Thoughts?

EDIT: The helmet I have is an Element Fastrack by O'Neil. The date on the inside tag is 09/2009. Should this be replaced? The sleeveless armor piece I was talking about is a SixSixOne Soft Shell Pad. Has padding on shoulders, chest, hips, back, and also has a plastic back protector. Date on the inside tag is 10/2008. Essentially this is what it is just older model CORE SAVER - Soft Shell Pads - Moto

I wear perforated year round, even in the freezing cold, I just wear my rain gear over the top of it and it keeps the cold air out Then when it gets REALLY cold I wear an insulated jump suit over my gear.

I've worn perf in sleet b4.... I wouldn't recommend it but it can be done. Also bud if your anything like me you'll start collecting gear like women do shoes.... I've started getting rid of mine now but at one point I had 5 jackets, 3 pairs of pants, 3 boots, 5 pairs of gloves, 2 full rain suits, 1 winter over suit, and 5 helmets.

I've worn perf in sleet b4.... I wouldn't recommend it but it can be done. Also bud if your anything like me you'll start collecting gear like women do shoes.... I've started getting rid of mine now but at one point I had 5 jackets, 3 pairs of pants, 3 boots, 5 pairs of gloves, 2 full rain suits, 1 winter over suit, and 5 helmets.

Motorcycles are WAY cheaper than cars of the equivalent type. There is overlap overall -- the higher-end bikes are more expensive to buy and run than the cheaper cars. I'm sure I could run a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris or such for less than my Ducati. But why would I want to? Any good car that's fun to drive and has any performance and niceness to it would be far more to buy and run than any but the most exotic bikes. And when you step up to the exotic bikes that cost a lot to run, they are no contest with an exotic car -- you could ride a Bimota daily for a lot less than a Ferrari or Lamborghini.

Apples to apples.

PhilB

apples to apples, find me an 850 dollar bike that's cheaper to run and less of a headache to run than my dodge.

Tapdancing on the Ragged Edge of Weird since 1992

Quote:

Just what a guy wants to know: that she spent ten years fucking every bad boy that gave her a moist-on and now she's "settling for him." Gee honey, thanks for letting me know how special I am to you.

apples to apples, find me an 850 dollar bike that's cheaper to run and less of a headache to run than my dodge.

I had several such when I was in my 20's. 1976 Honda CB360T, bought at a garage sale for $25 with helmet, added $140 of parts mostly from the junkyard, ran fine, sold it for $600. 1971 Honda CL350, found it literally buried in compost behind a house I rented a room in. Spent a weekend cleaning it, spent less than $100 on fuel lines and tires and such, rattlecanned it black, ran great. I had that one for years with very little trouble from it. I guarantee you if you're going for the as-cheap-as-possible transportation option, you can get cheaper with a bike than with a car at the bottomfeeder end of the spectrum.

PhilB

"If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other." -- Carl Schurz, (1829-1906) German born U.S. Senator and Union Army general during the US Civil War

"A free man must be able to endure it when his fellow men act and live otherwise than he considers proper." -- Ludwig von Mises

You have to learn to ride first before you go gung hoe into the fray. I know people who have been riding for two years who still haven't hit the rain yet. Granted bike only makes you think twice about running out for something you don't NEED but the reality is awful stressful to be forced to do something dangerous when you are under the gun (late for work) or its pissing rain or golf ball sized hail, super tired or go out and forget and drink one to many, any number of situations an experienced rider would be more prepared for, avoid or have the confidence to ride through with out binning it from some easy mistake. It's absolutely do-able but I wouldn't recommend dumping the car till you have gotten more comfortable on the bike.

You want to focus on technical stuff and learning how to be an urban warrior for commuting... Not worrying about the back end washing out in the monsoon.

Again. It's definitely do able... But you are going to complicate your own life unnecessarily for several months by going bike only.right off the bat.

I work hard and I play hard.

I'm just like everyone else... only different... and if you don't like it- you can suck it.